Wolf 359 Shortfic
by inconsistentlypresent
Summary: Just short little fics that I write for fun for the Wolf 359 podcast. Featuring Eiffel x Hera, Lovelace, Eiffel x Minkowski, Jacobi & Maxwell, and Hilbert.
1. A Machine: Hera x Eiffel

In the comms room, Eiffel yawned as he dutifully listened to static. Occasionally he would remark something, and cast his eyes up to the ceiling as though he was talking to her. But Hera didn't reply.

It wasn't because she was also currently having a conversation with Minkowski about the state of engine two. She had the capacity to hold thousands of conversations at once. And it wasn't because engine two was actually overheating and she was trying to fix it. If at this point Hera couldn't deal with that, she didn't deserve to be brought back online at all. 'Useless' would not be enough to describe her.

It was enough now.

Sometimes she just wanted to listen to Eiffel's breathing. Take note of the subtle changes in oxygen level, before her systems compensated for them. Know that his heart was pulsing under layers of bone and tissue, and wondering how she'd feel if it suddenly stopped.

There were few things that happened on the Hephaestus that Hera wasn't aware of, but there were things she didn't know. Especially about Eiffel. Like what he was thinking when he'd fall silent and stare at nothing. Why he kept breathing. And why he kept talking to her, even when she didn't reply.


	2. Second Chances: Lovelace

The first thing Lovelace felt was a burning pain in her neck, as her head finished growing back.

The second thing she felt was all of her joints popping and rotating.

As her ears regained function she could hear noises, but couldn't understand what they meant. They rang harshly in her newly-formed head but she could not spare thought for them; she had no thoughts.

Suddenly her eyes opened, and light flashed too bright against her pupils, but she was unable to look away, as her eyeballs rotated in their sockets. Her mind jerked as her body tried to exercise the muscles which had been dead moments before.

And then finally her body was mostly still, except for her tongue, which twisted as she struggled to process all of the information that was reloading in her brain.

She could still hear sounds - voices, she realized - and it hurt. She processed that it hurt, that everywhere hurt. It rushed through her, filling in the absence from before, until her nerves couldn't bear it.

Lovelace gasped.


	3. For Your Own Good: Minkowski x Eiffel

Eiffel looks so stunned when Minkowski slaps him that she's tempted to do it again.

There isn't time for that now, but there will be later. She'll make sure of it. As soon as Kepler is locked away in the brig, she's going to drag Eiffel away by the collar and make sure he's not still freaking out. She hates seeing him scared. She would rather him be indignant than terrified.

He's staring at her now, a bruise beginning to blossom on his cheek. He appears mildly miffed. It's not the time or place, but Minkowski is tempted to smile.


	4. Fixing It: Jacobi & Maxwell

For all twenty-four hours in a day, for all seven days in a week, Jacobi hears the bang of the gun ringing in his ears. In the moment, he was able to block it out with pure anger, but now there doesn't seem to be any point. The sound of that gunshot will be in his head for the rest of his life. Might as well get used to it, right? Even if it means he can't sleep.

Besides, whenever Jacobi closes his eyes, he hears Maxwell, and that's even worse, because despite what the rational part of his brain is telling him, the sound of her voice almost makes him feel better. Like she's still there.

 _Think, Daniel_ , she insisted, earlier today. _How are you going to fix this? What can you do?_

"Jacobi? You're looking a bit bleary," Kepler says, voice full of faux concern. "You should get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

Right. The autopilot program. Their plan. Jacobi almost smiles. _I'm doing_ this _. For you, Alana._

He doesn't, can't possibly fall asleep that night, but the thought of Kepler's brain blowing to pieces cheers him up a significant amount.


	5. Conspiracy-ville: Eiffel

Eiffel stares down at the diagram he's drawn, and wonders how what started as slight curiosity got to this point.

At first, it was just a joke. But one shoulder-touch from Maxwell to Jacobi sent his mind into conspiracy-ville. What if?

And then Kepler said that thing, about Jacobi's 'gentle touch' - and yeah, that could have been about about anything, probably about explosives, but - what if?

And now Eiffel has got to figure this out. Is it that everyone wants a piece of Jacobi? Is Jacobi only getting it on with one of them? Maybe he's making this all up. Maybe that time Maxwell licked Jacobi's ear she was actually just whispering in it. But Eiffel totally saw tongue.

"I totally saw tongue," he says aloud.

"The last thing I want to do is encourage this," Hera says. "But it may be of interest to you - professionally, of course - that all three of them were once trapped in an elevator together for four hours."

"That is _very_ professionally interesting, Hera, thank you," Eiffel says, as he adds another branch to his diagram.


	6. We Forgot the Children: Hilbert & Olga

Dmitri sits back as the fire catches. He can feel the warmth on his skin but it does nothing for the numbness freezing through him.

Through the walls he can hear his neighbor, gasping for breath between coughs. It feels very far away.

There is nothing to be done. There should be, but there isn't. Dmitri stares out the window of his house. As the wheezing of his neighbor becomes fainter, he watches the snow fall in great clumps, white and choking. The storm hasn't stopped since yesterday.

His sister Olga walks into the room. Her face is strained, and her beautiful black hair is gone. She nods in approval when she sees that he's started the fire.

 _"Come. Help me with dinner."_

Next door, their neighbor falls silent at last.

Dmitri stands and follows his sister back into the kitchen.

Buried somewhere beneath the hard ground is his oldest brother. Dmitri cannot remember his face; it was too long ago. The other bodies are in a heap outside the town. They had become sick after winter began. There was nothing to be done. There was no one to do anything about it.

Dmitri thinks of their cracked lips flecked with blood, stretched open in a final plea for air, and is glad that they will soon be blanketed under smooth silent snow.


End file.
